Mushroom house construction



Oct. 12, 1937. J. DI MARINO L d 2,095,323

MUSHROOM HOUSE CONSTRUCTION Filed Feb.V 23, 1957 2 SheeTS-Sheet 1 man \ rOct. 12,`1937. .1.'D| MARINO MUSHROOM HOUSE CONSTRUCTION Filed Feb. 25, 1937 2 sheets-Sheva 2 ATTORNEY Patented ct. l2, i937 UNITED STATES PATENT oFFicE- 4 Claims.

My invention relates to a new and useful mushroom house construction ofthe type usually employed for the growing of mushrooms, such houses being generally constructed of a relatively large,

5 elongated-structure With a relatively high ceiling, and enclosing tiers of mushroom beds extending lengthwise of the house with an aisle in between, and a ventilator at the peak of the roof.

Due to the necessity of accurately controlling the temperature, Ventilation and humidity, such houses are usually built without any windows and with a door on one or both of the opposite ends of the house thus necessitating the use of artificial lightinggelectric or otherwise. Mushroom workers sometimes donot see sunlight during the entire working week due to the fact that the door through which they enter the house and which has heretofore been made of solid Wood must be kept closed in order not to interfere with the established atmospheric conditions.

This is` highly detrimental to the physique and morale of the workers.

Furthermore, in the humus, manure, or other prepared compost, which is used for growing mushrooms there are great numbers of insect eggs or larvae which hatch in the favorable atmosphere ofthe mushroom house and constitute a distinct menace to the growing mushrooms which are very delicate and extremely subject to infection. In the darkness of a closed mushroom house it has been heretofore impossible adequately to exterminate these insects.

It is therefore the object of my invention to provide a mushroom house in which the worker is afforded a measure of daylight, thus facilitating work and reducing lighting expense, and it is a further object of my invention to provide means for eiectively, conveniently and inexpensively eX- terminating the insects. Y In the accompanying drawings:

i Fig. 1 represents a perspective View of a mushroom house embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 represents a section on 'line 2 2 of Fig. l. Fig. 3 represents a section on line 3 3 of Fig. 2. Y

Fig. 4 represents a view similar to Fig. 2 withV roomhouse is composed of the sides I, ends 2 and the peaked or slanting roof 3, which are of any desired conventional construction. 4 designates the usual Yventilator employed in conventional mushroom houses. 5

In order to admit daylight, and in order to provide means for extermination of the insects incubating within the house, I provide, inside of the conventional wooden door 5, a secondary or inner door which, as shown in Figs..1 to 3, is 10 composed of the sections 6 and 'I sliding in suitable frames 8 and which can be Vdrawn together in the direction'of the arrows Yin Fig. 3 to close the opening left whenv the door 5 is ajar. Carried by a suitable frame and disposed close to the 15 inside surface of theglass door sections 6 and 'I are vthe wire-mesh screens Ill and the electric Vsockets II of the typehaving projecting prongs I2. I3 designates a socket adapted to litV over theprongs I2 and communicating through the 2-0' wire I4 with a source of electrical energy I5, wherebyY the screen sections I0 may be electrified after the glass sections 6 and 'I are drawn together to close the opening of the doorV` 5.

' When the outer solid wooden door 5is opened, 25 the worker enters and slides together behind him I, theglass shutters IiV and I and then plugs in the sockets I3 to electrifythe wire screen I0. VIt is well known that insects confined in a dark place will immediately flock towards a ray of light and, 3d'

in this instance, the light showing through the glass` shutters E and I` attracts the insects which,

in Vtheir'ight towards a light, alight upon or impinge against the electric wire screen and are electrocuted. 'I'he light shed through the glass shutters Ii` and 'I serves to illuminate the inside of the mushroom house thus dispensing with the costs of artificial lighting and making the working conditions more sanitary and cheerful. Independently from and used with, or as an eXclu- 40 sive substitute'for the sliding glass doors 6 and l, may be employed, the construction illustrated in Figs. 1V to 5 and comprising the interspaced glass windows, I'I which are preferably placed along side the ventilator 4 so that'they may reg- 5 ister with the aisle usually provided between the tiers of the mushroom beds so that the light shed through these windows may be adequately diffused throughout the house instead of being concentrated on particular spots only. As will be seen from Figs. 4 and 5, the windows I'I are permanently in the roof and under them is provided the frame I8 in which slide the wooden shutters I9, saidwooden shutters being attached to the ropesy 20, passing over pulleys 2| so that, 55

when it is desired to shut out the light, the shutters I8 are brought up to register with the windows I'I by pulling on the cords ZI! the other ends of which can be fastened to suitable points to retain the wooden shutters I9 in their upper closing position. If it is desired to shed light through the windows I1, the cords 2 are loosened from their point of attachment and the shutters I9 slide back by the force of gravity out of registration with the Windows I'I as best illustrated in Figs. 4 and 6. The glass windows Il are also provided with screens Ii] which, in this instance, are preferably permanently wired for electrification, the control of the flow of current being effected by a switch accessible from the oor of the mushroom house. In Fig. 6 the construction is identical with that shown in Figs. 1 and 3 eX- cept that in lieu of forming the inner glass door of two sections 6 and 'I slidable towards each other, the door is formed of a single piece of glass 22 which is provided with the inner electrified screen I electrified by the plugs I3.

The reason for employing the plugs I3 and the wires I4 is to enable me so to allocate the sockets II as to prevent opening of the glass door before the plugs I3 are disconnected thus guard-i ing against the possibility of forgetting the screens in their electrified condition when the worker leaves the mushroom house. To this end, as will be seen from Fig. 2, the right hand plug I3 is attached to the left hand section l, Whereas the left hand plug I3 is attached to the right hand section t so that, if it is attempted to slide the section 6 from its closing to its open position, the length of cord III will prevent this movement until the plugs are detached. Similarly, as will be seen from Fig. 6, the plug I3 is applied to the left hand edge of the sliding closing door 22 so that the plug must be detached before the door 22 can be slid in the opposite direction into its out-of-the-way position. By this means I insure against forgetfulness which may result in accident or in undue consumption of current. While I have shown this preferred means of `accomplishing this result, I am aware that an ordinary switch vsuch as that used for supplying electric current for ordinary electric fixtures could be used with or without the accompaniment of a small red light that will burn when the current is on and that will extinguish when the current is turned off to indicate whether or not the screens II] are charged.

If desired additional windows 24, or of the type that can be opened and shut with or without the screens I0, may be provided at strategic positions. I have illustrated two such windows but I want it understood that they may be positioned at any desired point. With respect to the screen I I have not shown the exact weaving of the screen for the reason that electric screens of the character referred to are well known and available.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. A mushroom house having an opening in a wall thereof, and an opaque shutter carried by said wall for closing said opening, in combination with a light-transmitting shutter carried by said wall normally out of registration with said opening and adapted to be brought into registration to close said opening when said opaque shutter has been removed from registration with said opening, a screen carried by the inner surface of said light-transmitting shutter, and means for charging said screen with electrical energy.

2. A mushroom house having an opening in a wall thereof, and an opaque shutter carried by said wall for closing said opening, in combination with a light-transmitting shutter carried by said Wall normally out of registration with said opening and adapted to be brought into registration to close said opening when said opaque shutter has been removed from registration with said opening, a screen carried by the inner surface of said light-transmitting shutter, and means for charging said screen with electrical energy only when said light-transmitting shutter is in registration with said opening.

3. A mushroom house having an opening in a wall thereof, and a sliding opaque shutter carried by said wall for closing said opening, in combination with a sliding light-transmitting shutter carried by said wall normally out of registration with said opening and adapted to be brought into registration to close said opening when said sliding opaque shutter has been removed from registration with said opening, a screen carried by the inner surface of said sliding light-transmitting shutter, and means for charging said screen with electrical energy.

4. A mushroom house having a light-transmitting portion embedded in the ceiling thereof, a guide frame adjacent said light-transmitting portion, an opaque shutter adapted to slide in said guide frame and normally maintained out of registration with said ligh-transrnitting portion by gravity, means for actuating said opaque shutter to bring it into registration with said lighttransmitting portion, and an electrically charged screen carried by the underside of said lighttransmitting portion.

JACOB DI MARINO. 

